The Elysian Manifesto

The Elysian is a media collective exploring utopian futures, now we have a Manifesto—one way the world could go from here.

Here's how I see it going: We will create a world of cooperative city-states, like Mondragon,1 by following the Cooperatist Manifesto of the Spanish Priest who inspired it.2 To get there, we will make all companies employee-owned,3 and we can do that by selling companies to workers.4 Over time, worker-owned, democratically run corporations will usurp the nation-state and become global, self-governing economies.5 People will work for cooperative economies, but they will be governed by the small, autonomous nation-states where they live. Large superpowers, like the US, will split into 50 independent nations,6 or even 100 smaller nations to better govern local communities.7 With open borders between nations, citizens will move to the utopian nations of their choice.8 Countries will compete for citizens,9 with good countries becoming richer and more populous, and bad countries depopulating and losing power. A world of small, autonomous nations will federate together for matters of military or commerce, but federal governance will be decoupled from nation states.10 We will work for the cooperative economies that provide all of the things we need for society, while living in the small local governments of our choice, even as our economies and nations federate together for matters of global organization.

1. Mondragon as the new City-State
2. The Cooperatist Manifesto that inspired Mondragon
3. Every company should be owned by its employees
4. Founders can get much richer by selling to employees
5. Companies will usurp the nation-state
6. US states should have autonomy—like EU countries
7. We should create more US states
8. Opening our borders will solve just about everything
9. What if countries had to compete for citizens?
10. Decouple federal government from nation-states

As with the social reformers who came before me, this Manifesto is not right or wrong but merely a provocation—one way the world could go from here. During key moments of inflection, our better ideas might be trialed by governments and organizations, our worst ones will be discarded, and future thinkers will adapt and adjust them as we go.

But we’re in a period of inflection now and it’s worth considering what we want the world to look like from here. Our future is not fixed, and in fact it is in dire need of reimagining. We can’t just sit back and watch it all burn. We need to be visionary thinkers once more and come up with a better world worth working toward!

That starts here. The Elysian is the Enlightenment-era social club made modern, and this Manifesto is my entry into that tradition. I hope it encourages you to write and think too—to become a utopian thinker in your own right so that we might build a better future together.

Thank you for supporting this work and for joining us as a member of the Collective.

Sincerely,

Elle Griffin